Your Brain In Business: Innovate And Reboot

If it feels like you and your co-workers aren’t always on the same page, you’re not alone. And according to The Human Factor CEO Holly Green, it’s not a communication problem. It’s a neurophysiological problem. If that sounds overwhelming, don’t worry, it’s really just a matter of training your brain to think in the most efficient manner.

“Humans are fairly illogical and irrational creatures,” Green said. “How do we actually understand that more effectively and take advantage of it at work? So my sandbox really is how and why do you think and behave the way you do at work, and how do those other weird people think and behave the way they do -- so that we can really use that and leverage that to be better than we already are.”

Green said one of the biggest mistakes in office life is a gap in processing conversations. For example, “being responsive” to one person may mean answering a request the next day, to another it might mean within the hour.

Another trap people fall into is earning success early on, and then failing to re-create it down the road. Green said this is about being innovative, a trait that is not natural to the human brain.

“After doing something time and time again, the less likely we are to do something different,” Green said. “As a creature you’re not rebooting your brain.”

Green said the most successful people, whether in business, athletics or science, are highly self-aware, relentless and always looking to improve.